


Open Your Eyes and See What's Been There All Along

by RealistTash



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Amanda is nice in this what the hell is wrong with me?, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Oblivious!Trini, Pining!Kim, Sad!Tommi (sorry), Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-28 09:19:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13900989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RealistTash/pseuds/RealistTash
Summary: Soulmate AU that I saw floating around on tumblr somewhere.-On your 21st birthday (if you’re the youngest), you switch bodies with your soulmate for the day. Some couples are lucky, on the rare occasion they get it right. Some aren’t so lucky, they have no way of getting to each other and settle for somebody they aren’t destined to be with. Most are in the wrong relationship but manage to end up with whom they’re meant to.Trini really wishes that she didn’t wake up in the body of a girl she doesn’t particularly like. A girl she is constantly at ends with. A girl she’d rather be anywhere but near. A girl that infuriates and frustrates her with a simple smirk thrown in her direction. A girl that knows exactly how to get a rise out of her. A girl that she convinces herself she’s only attracted to because she’s aesthetically pleasing and that’s all.It could have been any girl. Any fucking girl but her.A girl who isn’t her girlfriend’s roommate.





	Open Your Eyes and See What's Been There All Along

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I spent like a week planning this and the better part of two days writing it so I'll be incredibly grateful for all comments and kudos. 
> 
> Thanks.

Trini rolls her eyes as soon as the door to Tommi’s dorm opens and a grinning Kim greets her instead. She doesn’t acknowledge Kim as she shoves her way past, nudges Kim’s shoulder a little too hard and hums to herself in satisfaction as Kim grunts slightly. “Where’s Tommi?”

“Hi, Trini, come in. How are you? It’s good to see you, too.” Kim shakes her head with a small smile that she doesn’t let Trini see before she closes the door and flops back down on her bed to continue her studies. She manages to last thirty seconds with Trini glaring at her before she sighs, “how the hell should I know? She’s your girlfriend.” 

A small huff reaches Kim’s ears and she has to bite her lip in order not to look over to the opposite bed where she knows Trini is taking her headphones out of her bag, but she can’t help but glance over a couple of times as Trini untangles the lead. The fourth time she looks over, Trini catches her. “What?” 

Kim glances quickly back down at the book in her lap and shrugs, “nothing. Just checking that you’re making yourself at home as usual. In my dorm room.” Trini’s glare intensifies. “Would you like anything? A drink? A snack? I want to be sure that you're comfortable here. Without Tommi. In my dorm room.” She emphasises the last four words to put her point across. 

Trini grins sarcastically and shuffles down so she’s laying on Tommi’s bed, “nah I’m good.” She places her headphones on and turns up the heavy metal until it’s blaring enough for Kim to hear, grins in delight as she sees Kim’s jaw move back and forth, teeth grinding because she’s defeated in the fact that Trini has cut whatever little game they play short. 

Because she really hasn’t got the brain power for Kim today, and as much as she doesn’t like her, she doesn’t want to lash out and say something that could actually hurt her. 

For Tommi’s sake, of course, since the two of them are friends somehow.

Maybe she should start at the beginning.

-

Trini is more excited than she thought possible at the prospect of going to college.

Look, she loves her family, but her mom can be really fucking overbearing and just once she’d like to sleep in on a Saturday and Sunday so she didn’t have to go to her brothers soccer game and church, respectively. 

Her roommate kind of sucks sometimes but she has some decent qualities too. And they have become pretty close friends. 

Cons;  
• Amanda is loud and has a lot of different guys over (Trini isn’t judging her for that, alright?) when Trini is trying to study.  
• She isn’t a slob, but she definitely isn’t a neat freak either.  
• She sometimes steals Trini’s milk for her morning coffee.  
• Her best friend is Kimberly Hart and it feels like it’s her dorm as much as it is theirs. Especially when she just strips off to get changed.

Pros;  
• She will try her best to make arrangements to go elsewhere if Trini asks in advance.  
• She doesn’t mind Trini’s music as long as Trini has her headphones on.  
• Amanda was the one to buy the coffee machine and lets Trini use it whenever she wants (that’s why she doesn’t bring up the milk thing).  
• She isn’t homophobic- massive plus.  
• Her other best friend is Tommi Oliver.  
• As stated above, Kimberly strips off. A lot. She’s hot, okay? Trini isn’t ignorant enough to try and deny that. Plus she’s incredibly gay and Kim is nice to look at. But it doesn’t mean she likes her.

So... the pros outweigh the cons slightly. 

Trini’s issues with Kim begin in their first year English class. It’s little things at first. They will be the first two to speak their mind. ‘Who is arguably the best horror author?’, ‘Which Shakespeare play is the most relatable to modern day society?’, ‘What is the true meaning behind Sylvia Plath’s ‘Mirror’?’ 

Kim, expectedly, has the opposite opinion of everything Trini has and many times they’ve been told, ‘as much as I enjoy your enthusiasm, maybe somebody else could give their opinion for once?’ with a chuckle from their professor and some other students, causing Trini to glare and Kim to smirk with a wink in Trini’s direction that just makes her glare harder. 

At this point, Trini wouldn’t be surprised if Kim argued that the fucking grass isn’t green. 

And it’s not just in class. 

If they’re at the campus coffee shop at the same unfortunate time, Kim will have an opinion on her order. If she’s watching something on her laptop, Kim will lean over and scrunch her nose in judgement before she’s back on Amanda’s bed. If (on the rare occasion Amanda convinces her) they go to a party, Kim will look her over with a ‘you’re wearing that?’

She is so. Fucking. Frustrating. 

Then Trini finally starts dating Tommi eight moths later, after six months of flirting and ‘when’s rather than ‘if’s. Sweet, nice, caring, beautiful Tommi and somehow Kim gets worse to the point where she can’t even go to Tommi’s dorm without Kim making some form of snide remark with her standard smirk, but instead of backing down like Kim probably expects her to, she squares her shoulders and gives back just as good as she gets. 

What Trini doesn’t know, is that first time they argued in class, Kim was captivated by her, by her passion, her fire, her everything. She doesn’t know that, that day, Kim got feelings. Feelings that grew as time went by. Feelings she couldn’t do anything about because Trini hated her and going tit-for-tat was the only way Kim knew how to keep Trini’s attention. But then Trini started dating her friend, and she knew she should let it go, but she couldn’t. So instead she riled Trini up, denied sleeping with girls that look like Trini when Jason called her out for it, made Tommi believe that she wasn’t completely in love with her girlfriend of nearly two years. 

Because Trini wouldn’t want Kim anyway, even if there was that tiny, tiny chance that destiny threw them together for a reason. 

-

Kim’s been staring at Trini for the better part of ten minutes. Trini’s eyes are closed as music blares down her ears and she taps her fingers in time with the beat on her stomach. 

She watches the rise on fall of her chest, lips slightly parted as she breathes shallow, frown embedded into her forehead. She’s worrying about something, evidently, and Kim’s eyes rake over her in silent concern. “I can feel you staring at me, Hart,” Trini snarls, making Kim jump, before she takes her headphones off and turns the music down. She sighs, “look, whatever the fuck your issue is now, can it wait? I’m seriously not in the mood for your shit today.” 

“Are you worried about tomorrow?” The question leaves Kim before she has the chance to stop herself and Trini looks at her in surprise. “It’s your twenty-first, right? You find out who your soulmate is, or isn’t, if they’re younger than you.” 

“How do you know when my birthday is?” 

How could Kim not know? Even if she didn’t know every single detail about Trini, Tommi hadn’t shut up about Trini’s birthday since she turned twenty-one two months ago and woke up in her own body. “Tommi hasn’t shut up about it.” 

“Right,” Trini nods as if that makes perfect sense because of course it does. The only time Kim ever pays attention to her is to argue with her so how else would she know? Not that Trini cares. Because she doesn’t. 

“So?” 

“Why do you care?” 

Kim takes a second to compose herself, to not be sarcastic in response because as much as she loves getting a rise out of Trini, seeing her eyes blaze in a way they don’t around anybody else, she can see the nerves, the not good anticipation, the hesitance that it might not be Tommi. 

Or, as she looks closer, that it might be Tommi.

“Tommi’s my friend, and tomorrow morning you're either going to wake up in your own body, hers, or somebody else. One way or another, tomorrow morning you find out if Tommi is your soulmate or not, and if not, she’s going to need somebody around her. So what’s the plan?” 

Trini studies Kim curiously, head tilted as she searches for any hint of snark but there’s nothing and maybe, maybe Kim is exactly who Trini needs to talk to about this because Kim is the only person she knows who won’t coddle her. “If... if I don’t wake up in her body tomorrow, we aren’t going to see each other. It’s easier that way. She won’t have to see someone that isn’t really me, or is me and if we aren’t... if we aren’t, then I don’t know.” Kim raises her brow, Trini sighs and turns the dull thud coming from her headphones off. “She doesn’t want to think about what comes after. She might be waiting years, or I might not be able to reach out to them, or it might-”

“Sounds like a lot of ‘might’s.”

And Kim sees the way Trini’s jaw clenches, and Trini knows Kim sees that way she’s holding back from snapping at her. Because Kim is actually being civil for once and she doesn’t want to ruin it. “How did you feel? When you woke up in your own body, I mean.” 

Kim takes her time in answering, she wants to be honest, but she doesn’t want to be too honest. If she is, she’ll end up blurting out that she was grateful because is meant that there was still a minute chance that it could be Trini. “Relieved,” she decides to go with, “part of me wanted to know, to get it over with you know? But an even bigger part of me is glad that she is still out there somewhere.”

“You said she.” It takes a second for Kim to realise that yes, she did, and she berates herself slightly. 

She laughs it off, “well, I might be bisexual, but I just have that feeling.” Trini nods a little but she doesn’t at all look settled, looks slightly haunted and Kim can’t help herself. “Trini,” she starts and Trini’s now watery eyes look up at her. Kim doesn’t want to make it worse, but she has to know one important detail, “do you, uh, do you want it to be Tommi?” 

Trini chokes out a laugh, wipes at the tears suddenly making their way down her cheek with an almost violent sniff, “god, that’s the fucking question isn’t it?”

The anger radiates off of Trini, whether it’s aimed at Trini herself or the world, Kim doesn’t know. She closes her book slowly, cautiously stands, timidly walks to the opposite bed and sits down gently, removes the headphones from Trini’s lap, all the while Trini staring at her in confusion. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to...” 

An abrupt giggle escapes Trini and the sound has Kim smiling behind a bit lip. “Wow, I didn’t think I’d ever hear the day Kimberly Hart apologised to someone. Congratulations on your milestone.” 

Kim chuckles along with her, “shut up. I can be nice sometimes.” Trini scoffs, but there’s no malice behind it. 

Once she calms down, Trini gulps and her eyes skim the room until they land on a spot on the floor. “It’d be easy if she was. If you asked me this a year ago I’d have said yes straight away. Hell, if you’d asked me four months ago, I’d have said yes. The closer it gets though, the less I know what I want. When Tommi turned twenty-one, I-I.” Trini inhales a stuttered breath, exhales a shaky one and Kim’s mind runs a mile a minute.

Her birthday was four months ago.

No, she’s reading too much into it. Trini hates her, there’s no way. 

“She loves me, it should be her.” 

Kim grips the sheets where her hands rest, half willing them not to pull Trini into her arms, half dreading the next answer. “Do you love her?” Kim has heard Tommi say it hundreds of times, but she’s never heard Trini say it back. 

Trini stands all of a sudden, hands over her face and Kim is helpless as she’s reduced to watching her pace the room. “This is so fucking stupid. What the fuck gives the universe the fucking right to decide who you’re meant to be with?” 

“You don’t have to,” Kim says as she stands too, grips Trini by the shoulders to stop her and Trini halts in shock. “Look, loads of couples stay together after they find out they aren’t soulmates, okay? It’s just...” Kim huffs at herself, “it’s like a- a guidance or something. Yeah. But just- just because you’re destined to have that person in your life, it doesn’t- it doesn’t mean that you have to be with them, with them, even people who are soulmates sometimes don’t work out. It’s still your choice, Trini, and-and you’ll know what to do. You’ll know, okay? Trust me.” 

The air is full of something new once Kim stops to actually breathe and Trini, understandably, doesn’t have a clue what to do because she’s never seen this side of Kim before. “Why are you being nice to me?” 

Kim laughs, jokes because she has no other choice, “you’re kidding, right? If Tommi gets back and you’re in this state she’ll blame me and I don’t fancy showing up to a hot date with a black eye, thanks.” 

Trini smirks a little even though it doesn’t quite reach her eyes, “I mean, it is kind of your fault for bringing it up in the first place.” She wipes her eyes again and they both seem to realise that Kim is still grasping her shoulders at the same time so Kim pulls back like she’s been burnt. “Jerk.” Once more, her voice holds no malice.

“Well, can’t change the habit of a lifetime,” she shrugs. “You should probably get cleaned up.”

“Probably. I suppose you should get ready for your ‘hot date’.” 

Kim bites her lip, “I’m sure it’ll be fine. It’s less of a date and more of a-”

“I get it, Hart. I don’t need the gross details.” The doorknob twists and Trini’s eyes widen in panic. “Shit,” is all Trini manages to get out before Kim is pushing her in the direction of the bathroom with a quiet ‘go, go, go,’ and the next thing she knows the cold tap is on and the door closes.

Tommi walks through just as Kim bounces back to her own bed and opens her book to whatever page she lands on, steadies her breathing, but not enough for Tommi not to notice. “Were you masturbating or something, Kim? You knew I’d be back at some point.” 

“Funny,” she drawls, plays with the chipped varnish on her nails, “you’re late back.”

“Yeah, study group dragged on because they couldn’t decide on which monarch they want to do.” Kim opens her mouth to ask but Tommi raises her hand, “they’re still going at it. I told them to text me when they’ve figured it out.” She slings her bag on the bed and notices the headphones with a large grin. “Is Trini here?” 

Kim hums, flips a page in the book before she realises it’s upside down and quickly corrects it. “No, she just decided to drop her shit off and head back out.” Tommi glares at her. “She in the bathroom, obviously.” 

“Is she okay?” 

Trini opens the door seconds later, fresh faced and much calmer and Kim gestures over her form, “see, all in one piece, no need to pounce.” 

Tommi smiles with a quick peck to Trini’s lips in greeting and Kim’s eyes burn a hole into her book until Tommi’s gaze shifts between them, “wait. You two managed to be alone in the same room without killing each other? I’m impressed.” 

“Don’t be,” Trini says as she sits back on the bed, “it was touch and go for a while there.” Her voice is still a little shaky, a little hoarse. 

Kim notices. Tommi doesn’t. 

“Anyway,” she continues, “I just thought I’d drop by before... you know. Just in case.” 

The pages under Kim’s hand practically tear as her nails dig in. She needs to get out of here, but she needs to do it at the right time so she doesn’t rouse suspicion. She’s a damn master at this point.

She waits for the perfect, inevitable moment even though it pains her every time.

“Hey, Trini, we’re going to be fine.” Tommi’s hand moves to Trini’s cheek, her thumb stroking along the bone. “Even if we’re not, it’s not going to change the way I feel about you, okay? I mean, I hope I’ll see you in my reflection tomorrow, but if not, I’ll still see you at your party on Saturday. We’re still going to be us, in whatever way that means. I’m sill going to love you.” 

Kim’s eyes squeeze shut. It never gets easier to hear. 

“Yeah,” Trini husks, voice raw and emotional in a way that breaks Kim’s heart, “me too.” 

It’s the only reply Trini has ever given Tommi and she feels bad that she can’t say it back every single time. She doesn’t want to risk the pain if tomorrow she wakes up as herself or somewhere else that isn’t this room. But it shouldn’t matter should it? Like Kim said, she doesn’t have to be in a romantic relationship with her soulmate. 

So why can’t she say it back? 

Maybe this should’ve been a sign a long time ago. 

When Kim finally, finally, sees Tommi lean down and hears the smack of lips, she breathes out a sigh of relief, pushes down the twist in her gut, and shoves everything away from her. “And that’s my cue to get the hell out of here.” Trini pulls back and stares. Simply stares like she’s trying to figure something out but she doesn’t know what it is. Tommi gives her a thumbs up. “Later, lovebirds. I won’t be home tonight,” she tells Tommi, even as her eyes stray to Trini. 

“Leaving another broken heart on the trail, Kim? When are you going to settle down?”

“When I’m in my forties and my soulmate turns out to be a hot twenty-one year old bartender.” Trini raises her brow. “It happens!” 

Tommi shakes her head, “you’re such a fuckboi.”

Little does Tommi know, Kim has had the same fuck buddy since Jason called her out on her Trini lookalikes. And does Sara look like Trini? Sure, she guesses. If you squint. But Sara doesn’t care when Kim slips up and calls her the wrong name, and Kim doesn’t care when she does the same thing because Sara’s soulmate is on the other side of the world and there’s nothing they can do until at least one of them graduate and save money. It works, and it stops Jason from getting in her business all the time. “Meh,” she says instead, “see you tomorrow.” She looks at Trini again, “maybe. Let me know if I need to get ice-cream,” she laughs and hears Tommi call her a bitch as she closes the door before she takes a deep breath, palms sweating as she clenches her fists. Her head knocks back against the wall as she composes herself, forces one step after another until she’s outside.

She can’t be in that room with Tommi tomorrow morning, no matter how much her friend may need her. 

More so if it’s Trini she wakes up to. 

Especially if it’s Trini. She doesn’t think her heart can take it. 

The air is crisp as the last signs of winter make way for the upcoming spring, and she makes it as far as the quad before she hears somebody shouting her name in the wind, confused as she turns and sees Trini running to catch up with her. “What? Shouldn’t you be with Tommi right now? You know, getting out whatever you need to.” 

Trini sways from one foot to the other, plays with the straps of her bag. “It wouldn’t feel right. If we did... you know. And we aren’t... you know. It wouldn’t be right.” Kim gets it, she does. “I wanted to thank you for not being a dick to me today.”

“First time for everything.” Her lips turn in a half smile but her stomach is churning. “Don’t expect it to happen again, though.” 

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” 

“You never answered me earlier.” Trini’s head cocks to the side. “About if you love Tommi.”

There’s still no answer, yet Kim realises it’s answer enough. 

They stand in silence, neither wanting to leave, both not knowing what to say until Kim can’t take it anymore and steps forward, drags Trini against her in a tight hold and Trini instantly sags against her, arms wrapping themselves around Kim’s waist and Kim has to stop herself from shivering at the contact. “If you need me tomorrow,” she whispers down Trini’s ear, “I’m here, alright?” 

Trini shakes her head against Kim’s shoulder, “Tommi might need you.” 

“I’ll make sure Amanda is there, don’t worry.” 

It takes them far too long to pull away and once they do, Trini clears her throat, “I should leave my details tonight, shouldn’t I? Things about myself. Who I am. Where I’m from. My friends and stuff. That’s what most people do. That’s what my parents did. Did you do that?” 

Kim lies. She has to. She can’t tell Trini that she didn’t want to know her soulmate because it wouldn’t matter. “Yeah, I did that.” 

“Okay. Cool. Good, that’s... good.” 

“It’s going to be fine, Trini. Whoever she is, if she is, she’s going to be lucky to have you. Romantic or not.” 

Trini calms and eventually scrunches her nose playfully, “you can stop being nice to me now. It’s making me feel weird.” 

“Whatever, you can move your ass at any time, I’m the one stuck wasting my super hot night because you’re panicking over nothing and won’t let me leave.” 

“Fuck you, Hart,” she jests before she laughs and walks away with a middle fingered salute, causing Kim to chuckle and watch her until she’s out of sight. 

Whoever Trini ends up with had better be the best damn person in the world to her. 

She’s knocking on Sara’s door before she realises she’s there and she’s dragged in and pushed against the wall before her brain catches up to what’s going on, and as lips lean up to hers, she pulls back, watches Sara frown in concern. Kim sighs and slips away. “I know this goes against the rules of being fuck buddies, but tonight, can we just like, watch something?” 

“It’s Trini’s birthday tomorrow,” Sara says in understanding, closes the robe over the sexy, black lace lingerie that would usually make Kim’s mouth water and walks over to her desk, opening the drawer before she pulls out a bottle of clear liquid. “Vodka and Netflix minus the chill?” 

Kim hugs her in thanks.

-

The first thing Trini feels is the absolute pounding in her head. The next is the not pleasant heat in her stomach. Then it’s the tickle in her nose.

She tries to bat it away, groans as she does because her head is fucking killing her and her tongue feels like death.

But then something moves. Someone moves and Trini’s eyes shoot open. She regrets it immediately and closes them again when the light invades her pupils.

Next time, she opens them slowly, let’s them adjust and wonders why the hell she has a hangover when she wasn’t even drinking last night. 

Wait, was she drinking last night?

No. No she definitely wasn’t no matter how much Zack text her. 

She’s only more confused when the body moves again, turns to face her and she panics as she comes face-to-face with... herself? No, not herself, but someone that looks a lot like her. 

Then she sees the hot pink chipped nail polish on her hand, things in a room she’s never seen before, including this random girl of course.

Trini shoots up, ignores the sudden wave of dizziness from the hangover she shouldn’t have and wills away the feeling of needing to throw up. She combs her hand through short, (short?) hair and her panic intensifies. She slowly lifts the covers and sighs in relief when she’s fully clothed.

Is she taller?

Where the hell is she? 

Her legs are wobbly as she gently gets out of the bed, tries her best not to disturb this stranger, and stumbles over to the mirror before she gasps and stumbles back hard. 

No. No. It can’t be. She can’t be. This isn’t. She isn’t. 

Hands clench at the table in front her as she looks back at herself. Correction. As she looks back at a girl who isn’t her. A girl she doesn’t particularly like. A girl she is constantly at ends with. A girl she’d rather be anywhere but near. A girl that infuriates and frustrates her with a simple smirk thrown in her direction. A girl that knows exactly how to get a rise out of her. A girl that she convinces herself she’s only attracted to because she’s aesthetically pleasing and that’s all. 

It could have been any girl. Any fucking girl but her.

A girl who isn’t her girlfriend’s roommate. 

A girl who is anybody but Kimberly Fucking Hart. 

She’s dreaming. She has to be dreaming because this can’t be real. It simply can’t be. 

Her stomach lurches. She needs to leave. Get as far away as possible because none of this makes any fucking sense. 

So she writes a quick note to this unknown girl. A ‘sorry’. Figures it’s more than Kim would’ve done, and rushes out as fast as she can. 

Trini has no idea where she’s headed until she finds herself at Zack’s door, bangs so loud that his neighbour opens his and tells her to shut up but she doesn’t care. “Zack! Zack please open the door.” Kim’s voice vibrating in her ears sounds strange and she can’t say she hates it. 

He finally does five minutes later and stares at her in bewilderment, “Kimmy? What’s going on? Shit, is Trini okay? Oh no,” he adds in empathy but Trini hasn’t got time to digest what that means, “it’s not her, is it?” 

And that’s when it hits her. This is real. “I’m going to be sick.” She pushes past him, thankful that he’s one of the lucky ones that got a room to himself and runs to the toilet just in time. 

Zack stands back with a wince as everything inside her comes up, until her brow is clammy and she’s finished heaving into the bowl. “What happened, Kim?” 

“I’m not Kim,” she mumbles.

“Huh? God, how much did you drink last night?” 

His laughter causes her to snap, “I’m not fucking Kim, homeboy.” 

Eyes widen in a way she’d find hilarious if she wasn’t practically hyperventilating. “Holy shit. Trini?” 

“Bingo.” 

“Oh. Oh. Oh my. Wow. Wow, alright, we can figure this out.” 

She grunts and wipes at her mouth, confident that she can move away from the bowl and flushes before she grabs the mouth wash and rises, refusing to look at the mirror as she does. “Figure out what? I think it’s pretty obvious what’s going on.” She stumbles to his bed and flops down on it, groaning into the pillow. “How did this happen?” 

Zack crosses his arms over his chest with a smirk, “well you see, when the universe wants two people to-”

“Not the time, asshole.” 

“Right, sorry.” He sighs and sits next to her on the bed, lifts her until she’s sitting up against him.

Trini grabs onto his shirt for dear life before something he said clicks, “what did you mean when you said ‘it isn’t her’?” Zack’s answer is cut short. “Don’t lie to me, Zack. Please.” 

He sighs again, holds her tighter, “okay.” He clicks his tongue a couple of times, purses his lips once before he sucks them into his mouth and swallows. “I’m just going to come out and say it. Kim has been in love with you for years.” 

“What?” Trini rips herself away in shock, shakes her head rapidly. “That’s not possible. No way. We can barely even tolerate each other. We-”

“Trini,” Zack stops her, “it’s true. Everyone knows it except your oblivious ass apparently.” Trini shakes her head again, feels the short hair swing against her cheeks and Zack scoffs at her, “you woke up in her body, dude, you need to talk to her.” 

“I can’t, I- fuck.” Her head lolls back against the wall in defeat, “I need to talk to her.” 

Zack nods, “what are you going to say?”

Trini snorts, closes her eyes, “how about... ‘hey, Kim, I know we can’t stand each other ninety-nine percent of the time, the one percent is when we’re sleeping and even then it’s rocky, but I guess we’re soulmates so there’s that’, then we can run off into the sunset and play happy families.” 

“Come on, Trini, be serious.”

“I am being serious. What the hell am I suppose to say? I’m soulmates with the one person on this planet I despise.” 

“Do you, though?” Trini frowns at him. “Look, I’ve never talked to you about this because you started dating Tommi, and she’s great, she is. But you always kind of... held yourself back, never let yourself get too invested, even if you didn’t realise that’s what you were doing. When you’re with Kim, without sounding cheesy ‘cause that mushy crap ain’t my style,” it gains him a small chuckle, “it’s like you come alive.” She huffs. “You don’t even know you’re doing it, but you constantly talk about her. Yeah, it’s usually about how annoying she is, but it’s always her. She’s the only person I’ve ever known that’s able to get under your skin.”

Trini rolls her eyes, “because she always has to fucking argue against everything I say.” 

Zack shakes his head, “other people do to, but you just shrug them off or put them down with some admittedly creative sarcasm. With Kim, you fight back so she does too. You’re obsessed with each other. You spent the night celebrating Kim’s birthday and played it off as if it was because you aced a test. Newsflash, Crazy Girl, you ace all of your tests! And it’s ridiculous that it’s taken this to make you realise.” 

“Make me realise what?” 

He pats her shoulder with a sympathetic smile, “that you’re just as in love with her. You always have been.” 

Trini laughs loud, stands up to pace the room as Zack sits and patiently watches her. “That’s insane. You’re insane. I’m am not in love with Kimberly Hart. Literally everything about her pisses me off. Her attitude, her face, the way she smells, dresses, and that stupid, arrogant smirk. How she thinks she’s so damn perfect. Her laugh is the worst, she- why are you looking at me like that? Stop looking at me like that, Zack. There is not a single chance in hell that I’m in love with Kim. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Nyet. You need sectioning if you think there’s even the remote possibility that I-” She abruptly stops, eyes wide, face pale, “oh, god.”

“There it is.” 

“Oh god. Oh god.”

“You said that.” 

Her mouth gapes, “I’m in love with Kim.” 

Zack clicks his tongue, “yep.” 

Trini punches his shoulder, “why didn’t you tell me?” 

“Ow. I just did,” he glares, rubbing the spot he knows will bruise. He’s like a peach. 

“I need to find her. I need to talk to her.”

“We’ve established that.” 

Trini states at him, “right. Yeah. I’m going. Fuck, I don’t know where she’ll be. She’s probably just as confused as I am.”

“Doubt it.” Zack holds back his laugh. “Crazy Girl, she’s been waiting for this moment for four months. Trust me, she isn’t going to be confused. And you know exactly where she is.” 

She nods. “Alright. I’m going. Thanks, Zack.”

He stands and hugs her. “I’m happy for you. Now go away, you being in Kim’s body is seriously freaking me out.” He pulls back and grins at her, “so, I’ve slept with Amanda, Amanda has slept with Kim, Kim had that bizarre kiss with Jason and now he and Billy are soulmates. Your soulmate is Kim but you were dating Tommi. Hey, maybe we can make this more incestuous and I’ll wake up in Tommi’s body in two weeks.”

Trini laughs, “stranger things have happened.” 

“I guess now is a good a time as any to say happy birthday.”

“Ass.” 

-

Kim moans in satisfaction as she stretches, wakes up slowly, comfortably with no trace of a hangover.

Maybe her kidneys are finally getting used to all she’s put them through.

Hey, she’s in college, alright? Don’t judge. 

Her eyes open slowly and she smiles as she sees pictures of Trini, Tommi, Zack, Jason, Billy, Amanda, some even she’s in, and her family.

They are not her family. 

She bolts upright, surveys the room with a slack jaw and wide eyes, looks down at herself.

This isn’t her body. 

Kim knows this body, spent hours studying this body. 

This is Trini’s body.

Holy shit! This is Trini’s body. 

She pinches herself and it hurts- she’ll apologise for the bruise later- before bouncing out of bed and looking in the mirror to see Trini’s perfect, adorable face looking back at her and she grins. Toothy, wide.

And then dread sets in. Dread, because Trini hates her. Oh god, Trini hates her. And Kim gave her that stupid speech of following your own destiny like an idiot.

How the hell is she going to get out of this one? 

The door opening startles her before Amanda glances at her with a frown, “who am I talking to?”

Should she lie. She should definitely lie because she needs to talk to Trini first. “It’s me.” Damn her voice sounds good. “It’s Trini.” 

Amanda sighs at her in pity, “shit, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” The pity turns to confusion. “It’s okay, I’m okay. Can you do me a favour though? Tommi and I promised we wouldn’t see each other if we weren’t... and Kim isn’t home-”

More dread fills her. Of course she’s ecstatic, but Tommi is still her friend and she hopes this doesn’t change things. “I got her.” Kim smiles softly in thanks and pulls out her favourite casual outfit of Trini’s- black skinny jeans and a yellow plaid shirt over a ‘1973’ grey top. The one where she only has to glance at her before Trini bristles. Amanda laughs when she sees it, “I swear you only wear that to get a rise out of Kim.” 

“I don’t know what you mean.” 

A scoff, “sure you don’t.” Kim busies herself with getting changed, wills herself not to look, doesn’t feel Amanda studying her as she does. Once she’s finished and braids the side of her hair the way she knows Trini likes, she pulls on her favourite yellow beanie and pours herself a coffee before she nods her goodbye at Amanda. “See you later. Oh, and Kim?”

“Yeah?”

Amanda smirks, “tell Trini I said hi and wish her a happy birthday from me.” 

Fuck. 

Kim hangs her head low in avoidance and Amanda laughs, “’Tommi and I’? Smiling in the morning when I can barely get a grunt of acknowledgment usually? Wearing your favourite Trini outfit? You literally haven’t stopped checking yourself out. And a black coffee compared to Trini’s mountain full of sugar and heaps of milk? Which by the way, you have Trini’s taste buds now so that’s going to be disgusting to you. Also, when have you ever seen Trini change out in the open? Come on, Kim, I know you both better than that.” 

“You can’t tell Tommi.” Amanda raises her brow. “Not yet. Not today. I need to talk to Trini first, it’s not fair that she hears something like this from somebody else.” 

With a sigh, Amanda reluctantly nods because Kim is right. “No later than tomorrow, Kim, before the party. I’m not going to lie to my best friend.”

“And you don’t have to. Not for long, I swear. Either way she’s going to find out.” 

Amanda leans back against the table with her arms folded, small smile, “you’ve been waiting a long time to get your girl, Kim, what you hanging around for?” Kim rushes forward and hugs her. 

Trini is so damn small.

Amanda rolls her eyes but pats her on the back, “get the hell out of here.”

“Thank you.”

She needs to talk to Trini, but first, she needs to see Jason. 

He rubs his eyes as he opens the door and she bounces on her feet, shoves past him before he finishes his yawn. “Trini? What-” 

“It’s Kim.”

“Can’t you two just leave it alone for five minutes? What’s gone on this time?” She’ll let it slide that he seems to have forgotten what day it is because he does look like he’s genuinely exhausted. 

She rolls her eyes, “no. It’s me. I’m Kim.” 

“You’re, huh? I’m confused.”

Kim flicks his forehead and he swats her hand away. “It’s Trini’s birthday, moron.” 

His eyes widen. “That’s today? Oh man. You’re Kim.” She nods. “You’re in Trini’s body.”

“No shit.”

“You’re soulmates!” And the prize goes to. “Erm, congrats, I guess. I mean, it sucks for Tommi.”

She sighs, “yeah.”

“But I also know how heart breaking it’s been for you. Especially the last four months so... what now?”

“Well,” she says, “we have a slight problem.” He frowns at her. “Trini hates me, remember?” 

Jason laughs loud enough that his roommate blindly throws a sock at him before he pulls the cover over his head. “Oh, kid-”

“You’re two days older than me.”

He shakes his head, “you have no idea, do you?” She reaches out to flick his forehead again but he grips her hand, holds it in his lap, “you really need to go and talk to her.” 

“I think I’m going to head up to the cliff for a few hours, prepare myself.”

“Good,” a groan sounds from the opposite bed, “take your lesbian drama elsewhere.”

Kim rolls her eyes, “I’m bisexual.”

He grunts, “whatever. Your wlw drama then. I’m not biphobic, I just want to fucking sleep.” 

She sends him another eye roll and Jason chuckles. Kim gets up off of the bed and straightens her clothes out, “how do I look?”

“Like Trini.”

“Excellent, I’m already perfect.” Another groan. “I’m going. Jesus.” She leans down to kiss Jason on the cheek, “wish me luck.” 

Jason grins, a silent ‘you don’t need it’. 

-

Trini has been watching Kim sit at the edge of the cliff for nearly an hour and she’s feeling really creepy but she can’t stop.

She’s heard stories about how strange it is to see yourself through somebody else’s eyes, yet none of them live up to the actual experience of it. 

Nearly all of Kim’s nail polish has been picked off to try and calm her nerves. She’s had an eventful morning. First she finds out Kim is her soulmate. Then she finds out Kim has been in love with her this entire time. Then she realised she’s in love with somebody who’s been infuriating for the past two and half years. Add the fact she has to sit down and find a way to explain all of this to her current girlfriend (soon to be ex) as honestly and without causing too much pain as she can. 

On top of that she has a serious hangover that she had absolutely nothing to do with. Thanks, Kim. 

Once the last chip falls from the nail, she starts on the skin and has to force herself to stop ruining Kim’s hands, steadies herself with a long inhale, locks her jaw in determination and makes her way towards the cliff. 

Kim doesn’t look at her as she takes a seat next to... herself(?), just throws a pebble and watches it fall. “I was wondering how much longer you were going to stand staring at me. Happy birthday.” 

It’s so strange to hear her own voice, slightly different from what she hears herself. “Thanks for the hangover, Hart, best present ever.” 

“Sorry,” Kim winces.

“Two apologies in two days? Be careful, I think you're starting to form a habit.” 

Kim laughs, giggles in the sarcastic way Trini does before her own eyes meet her and Kim looks over her own body with a smirk, “damn, I’m so much hotter in person.” Trini chuckles light, rolls her eyes. “Are you okay?” 

“I don’t exactly have a choice, do I?” 

Trini watches her own head shake back and forth, “you do. I told you yesterday that you do and I meant it. We don’t have to be anything you don’t want to be, Trini. If you want to go back to the way things were I’m okay with that. If you never want to see me again, it’d be hard, but I’ll deal. Whatever happens, it’s entirely up to you.” 

“Does everyone know but me?” 

Kim lets out a long sigh and scoffs at herself, “I think I managed to throw Tommi off, but yeah, everyone knows.” Trini raises her brow. “Are you seriously going to make me say it?” Trini nods as she sees her own glare aimed at her and she kind of gets now why people are scared of her. “Fine. Everyone knows that I’ve been in love with you since our first argument in English. Happy?” 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” 

“Jesus Christ, Trini,” Kim scoffs as she stands, “how was I suppose to do that? Was I suppose to do it when you left the room every time I walked in? Maybe in the middle of English when you were glaring at me like I was the last person on Earth you wanted to be near? Oh, how about when you started flirting with my friend and it was obvious she liked you, that would’ve been a good time, right? I shouldn’t have backed off to let her be happy, of course I shouldn’t have. I know, it should’ve been when you started dating her. Yep, perfect timing to tell the girl who hates you that you’re in love with her and potentially ruin a friendship along the way.” 

“I don’t hate you,” Trini blurts, halts Kim’s pacing before wide eyes look at her. “You annoy the living hell out of me the majority of the time and you’re insufferable the rest,” she snorts at herself. How did it take this happening to notice what’s been in front of her all along? “But I don’t hate you. I never did.” 

Kim bites her lip, “if I told you, would it have changed anything?” 

Trini runs her hands down her face, “I can’t answer that. I don’t know, because you never gave me that option.” 

The silence between them is hard, and Kim gulps loud in it, “so what do we do? You know how I feel. You have your option now, it’s your choice.” 

“Zack, uh, he made me realise some things. That maybe my feelings for you were misplaced.” She can see the laughter bubbling up in Kim’s throat and glares. “Shut up. This isn’t easy for me.” Kim holds her hands up in surrender. “He made me realise that I sort of, maybe, kind of... love you too.” 

Kim’s smile is blinding and Trini can’t help but match it. “Yeah?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Is it weird that I want to kiss myself?” Trini laughs and shakes her head. “So Zack knows?” A nod. “Amanda and Jason do, too. That probably means that Billy knows.” 

Trini leans her head back and closes her eyes at the sky, “I feel like such an awful person. Tommi is sat there with no idea what’s going on. No idea what’s coming and I’m stood here in her roommate’s body, her friend’s body, wishing I could be back in my own so I can kiss her.” Kim smirks. “No. Not happening, Hart. One, that’s weird, okay? And two, I need to talk to Tommi before anything happens between us. I owe her that much. She’s going to be so mad.” 

“Hey,” Kim steps up to her, holds her face between her hands and Trini inwardly smiles at being the taller one for the first time in her life, “none of this is your fault. You didn’t have any control over what happened today and Tommi knows that. She could never be mad at you for something you had no say in. If anything, she’s going to blame me because I’m the one she still has to see everyday,” she laughs, easing Trini.

“Will you be alright with that?” 

Kim smiles at her, “I spent nearly two years watching my friend date the girl I’m in love with, nothing can hurt more than that. I can handle her being angry with me for a while.” Her hands snake up and she can’t wait to be back in her own body so she can lean down and kiss Trini. “What do you say to spending the rest of the day in bed eating junk food and watching movies? Amanda’s going to spend the night with Tommi and maybe we can have a full conversation without bickering.”

Trini frowns playfully, “where’s the fun in that?” 

-

The thrum of excitement Trini feels when she wakes up on top of soft skin is like nothing she’s ever felt before. She nuzzles in deeper against the neck her nose is squished against and grins when Kim chuckles under her, hand combing through her hair. “Morning.” 

“How long have you been watching me, creep?” 

Kim shrugs without an ounce of embarrassment, “a while. Did you know you talk in your sleep?” 

“No,” Trini says as she lifts her head, rests her arms across Kim’s chest, “what was I saying?”

She sees the glint in Kim’s eyes and instantly regrets asking. “Oh, you know, something along the lines of, ‘yes, Kim, right there. Harder’, things like that.”

Trini gasps with her eyes wide and sees Kim biting her lip to hold her laugh. “I was not you jerk.” 

Kim giggles, pushes Trini’s hair behind her ear, “you’re so beautiful.” 

“Who knew you were such a sap?” 

“Literally everyone but you,” she teases, pulls Trini back on top of her when she attempts to move away. “Stay.” 

A giggle escapes Trini when Kim turns them over, trapping her body with her arms raised above her head and she has to hold back when Kim’s eyes turn dark. “Hart,” she warns. 

“I know,” she says, “we have to wait.” Her words contradict her movements and Trini gasps when a hand makes its way under her shirt to spread across her stomach, “but can I just touch you? Just for five minutes so that I know this is real?” 

Trini nods, it’s all she capable of, before Kim leans back enough to support most of her weight on her knees and her other hand moves to join the one on her stomach, rests her forehead against Trini’s with their mouths millimetres apart and breathes out against Trini’s lips with a sense of ‘finally’. 

The hands make their way up Trini’s ribs and her eyes flutter closed, pants almost as Kim shuffles to settle her hips between Trini’s legs, them opening instinctively to make room and her arms come down to thread through Kim’s hair. 

There’s so much thick air between them, so much anticipation as they breathe each other in. Trini isn’t sure who moves first, but their lips connect, not enough for a kiss, just enough to feel. She inhales sharp and quick when Kim’s nails scratch gently down her side before one hand finds itself clinging onto her thigh. 

Kim moans randomly into Trini’s mouth. Not so random, Trini notes, when she realises her hips bucked without her consent. A final, shaky exhale against Trini’s mouth and then Kim is pulling back, kisses her as close to her lips as possible without touching them and swallows hard when Trini’s lids open in confusion, pupils blown. “I said five minutes.” 

The moan? The deep husk in Kim’s voice? The way her hands glide across Trini’s body like silk? Trini wants to hear and feel it over and over and over again. “Five more won’t hurt.” 

Her stomach and thigh feel cold when Kim takes her hands away and sits back on her ankles, looking over a spread Trini with an almost pained expression. “They will. They really, really will.” Trini laughs and sits up before Kim sees the tension take over her shoulders. “Do you want me to come with you?”

“I’m breaking up with my girlfriend of nearly two years for her roommate slash friend. I don’t think it’s the best idea if you’re there.” 

“I don’t like the thought of you having to deal with this on your own.”

“Tommi isn’t going to do anything to me. The worst that will happen is that she screams at me and tells me to get out.” Kim doesn’t look convinced. “How about this? You can come with me.” Kim grins. “But you have wait outside unless I call you in.” A grateful nod. “And only after you go and tell that carbon copy of me that you’re over.” 

Kim chuckles, “Sara? Easy. And she doesn’t look that much like you.”

Trini raises her brow, “I genuinely thought I woke up next to myself for a second yesterday morning.” 

“So,” Kim sighs, taking a hold of Trini’s hand and kissing the knuckles, “are you ready to go and let shit hit the fan?” 

-

Sara complained. Sara complained a lot. Trini glared until Sara pouted. “You don’t get it. Now I have to teach somebody new what I like. Damn it, Trini, you couldn’t be born a year later when I had enough money to go to China?” 

And, well, she couldn’t not laugh at that. 

Trini’s hands are shaking as she stands outside Kim’s dorm and Kim is hugging her tight from behind. “Remember I’m going to be right here.” Trini nods, jittered and stiff before Kim kisses her cheek and spins out of view as soon as Trini knocks on the door. 

It feels like a lifetime before the door cracks open and she’s met with Amanda’s sympathetic face. She slides through the gap and stares at Trini for a moment before she pulls her into a bone crushing hug. “I want you to know, if it comes down to choosing you two or her in the next few weeks, I’m going to be with her because you two have each other and the boys.” 

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Trini replies honestly. 

Amanda sniffs and pulls back, keeps her hands on Trini’s shoulders as she snorts, “I can’t believe I’m going to have to go through the best friend talk with you again.” 

“I mean, you don’t really have to.” Amanda catches Kim’s eye down the hall and winks before she looks back at Trini with a threatening smirk. 

She watches Amanda join Kim with a shoulder nudge and braces herself as she opens door, feels sick as soon as Tommi’s tear filled eyes lock on hers before she attempts to wipe them away quickly. “We aren’t suppose to see each other until the party.”

“This couldn’t wait.” 

Tommi scoffs, hangs her head in defeat, “you know her, then. She’s not some random, you know her, don’t you?” Trini nods, takes the chair at Kim’s desk because she doesn’t feel right sitting on the bed. “And you’re here to break up with me.” Trini gulps, nods once more and Tommi lets out a controlled breath to steel herself because this isn’t Trini’s fault. Not really. She knows that, so she clears her throat and tries to smile, tries to be supportive as best she can. “What’s she like?” 

“She’s... unexpected, to say the least,” and her eyes stray unintentionally towards Kim’s bed before her lips quirk just a fraction. 

Something crosses Tommi’s features, something dark and pale at the same time, angry and knowing. “Do I know her?” Trini’s gaze snaps to the floor. “Trini. Do I know her?” Tommi accentuates each word with a bite in her tone and Trini is powerless to do anything but tilt her head in confirmation. “Please tell me this is a sick joke. Please tell me your soulmate isn’t my fucking friend.” 

Trini meets her eye, “this isn’t Kim’s fault either.” 

Tommi scoffs, “unbelievable. This is great. Just great. I can’t believe I had to sit there for two years and act like I didn’t know she was in love with you just for this to happen anyway.” 

“You knew?”

“Of course I knew, Trini. Everyone did.” Trini would very much appreciate it if people didn’t remind her how much of an oblivious gay she’s been. 

She holds her hand up, jaw loose, “wait up a second. You asked me out knowing full well that she had feelings for me? You let her selflessly stand aside and suffer every time she saw us together, yet now you have the audacity to be pissed at her for something she can’t control? Are you insane?” 

“I thought,” Tommi gulps because yeah, it sounds a lot worse when Trini puts it like that, “I thought that if I asked you out she’d move on but she didn’t. She couldn’t, and I guess now we know why. I was interested in you so I made a move, she had plenty of opportunities she didn’t take. And then I fell in love with you, too.” 

Trini has heard those words spill from Tommi’s lips countless times and she’s never really felt anything but neutral about them until Kim said the same thing and her heart fluttered. This time coming from Tommi? Not a good feeling. “She backed off as soon as you shown an interest because she cares about you. She cares about your friendship. Evidently the same can’t be said for you.”

“What? So it’s my fault? She obviously doesn’t care much about our friendship now if you’re here to leave me for her.” 

“It isn’t anyone’s fault, Tommi. That’s what I’m trying to say. If you do have to blame someone, then blame me. Kim already said that she’d be happy just being my friend if that’s what I wanted, but it’s not.”

Tommi stops, studies her, “do you love her back?” 

“Yes.”

“How? You didn’t even like her two days ago! How long?” Trini shrugs. “How fucking long?”

She snaps, “I don’t know, alright? I didn’t realise that I did until yesterday.” She quietens when Tommi goes silent, a small amount of understanding in her eyes. “I’m sorry.” 

Tommi laughs at herself, half tormented, half furious. “Everyone told me, you know? They all warned me that it wasn’t one-sided but I refused to listen to them. Convinced myself that one day you’d feel the same way I do. Pathetic, isn’t it?” She cuts Trini’s response off. “I can hear you pacing the hall, Kim. You might as well come in.” 

The door opens, slowly, cautiously, before Kim practically sprints to Trini who looks at Kim like she’s the universe. Tommi sniffs, wonders why she didn’t let herself see this before. “Are you okay?” The question is low, but not low enough for Tommi not to hear.

Trini looks at Tommi, “are we?” 

“We will be,” she says, sees Trini sag a little and Kim frown in concern. “Not now, but some day. I don’t think I can come to your party tonight. I just, I can’t. I need time.” She hears Trini mumble an ‘okay’, watches Kim’s mouth open but she can’t stand to hear what she has to say. “Don’t you dare apologise to me.”

“I wasn’t going to.” 

Tommi snorts. “Of course you wasn’t. Why would you apologise for something you’re not sorry for?” 

They watch Tommi leave silently and Trini rests her head against Kim’s chest, “that was the worst thing I’ve ever had to do in my life.” 

“Including having to come out to your extremely Catholic, overbearing mother?” 

Trini laughs, “okay, maybe the second worst.” She lifts her head and smiles wryly, “I’m such an idiot. I can’t believe I told myself that I only learnt everything about you so I could have one over on you and that you didn’t know shit about me. Yet here you are, proving me wrong.” 

“Well,” Kim smirks, “it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that I prove you wrong. I do end up winning all of our arguments.”

“Like hell you do.” 

Kim bites her lip, “would it be in poor taste if I asked to kiss you right now?” 

“Probably. But since when has something being in poor taste stopped you before?” 

“True,” Kim says, already leaning in, stops short of Trini’s lips and watches her eyes close in suspense, “can I finally kiss you?” 

Trini closes the rest of the gap in answer and Kim gasps as soon as lips touch hers, gentle and controlled.

Two and half years thinking this moment would never come, only imagining what Trini’s lips would feel like, taste like and damn, she isn’t disappointed at all. 

The kiss is more than she could’ve ever dreamed of. Pillow like lips with just the right amount of pressure as Trini traps her top lip and she snags on Trini’s bottom until her tongue skims along it and Trini’s mouth opens wider to accommodate. 

Trini shivers as soon as Kim’s tongue strokes against hers, the butterflies in her stomach going crazy and she groans when Kim’s flicks up against the roof of her mouth and suddenly she feels this desperate need to have Kim everywhere. 

“Bed,” she mumbles between kisses and Kim nods, hooks her hands under Trini’s thighs and lifts her without breaking their mouths apart, secures her around her waist and lays her down gently before covering Trini’s body with her own. 

There’s a sigh, but Kim couldn’t say who it comes from before she pulls away to trail her kisses down Trini’s neck, up to her ear with a kitten like nip to the lobe. “I love you.”

Trini tugs gently at Kim’s hair so she can face her, runs the pad of her thumb along Kim’s bottom lip and melts when Kim kisses it. “I love you too.” 

“Even though I’m an insufferable pain in your ass?” 

“Especially because of that.” Kim leans down to kiss her again. “Listen, I think... I think we should cool it in public.” Kim goes to protest. “Just for now. Be a little considerate for Tommi.” 

Kim frowns, “she was kind of a bitch to you.” 

“She’s hurting, I can’t hold it against her.” 

“Fine,” she reluctantly agrees before she smirks, trails her fingers up Trini’s thigh, “what about in private?” 

“I think we should take it slow.”

Kim freezes. She’s waited two and half years for Trini. She can wait a little longer. Because she’s going to be the most perfect girlfriend in existence. “Alright. Yeah that’s cool. Absolutely. Great in fact. Totally. Could not agree more.” 

Trini lasts all of five seconds before she can’t contain herself anymore and laughs loud in Kim’s face. “Holy shit. You should’ve seen your face. It’s like somebody ran over your dog.” 

Unbelievable. Kim growls and pins Trini harder to the mattress, “you’re going to pay for that.” 

They’re only a little late to the party. 

-

Music is bouncing off of the walls in the hallway, mostly students from Zack’s floor filling the space, people Trini has never even seen before wishing her a happy birthday as they make their way into Zack’s room. Jason and Zack are already drunk and Billy keeps a careful eye on them as he sips his soda, greets them with his usual easy grin, “Jason told me the good news. I hope that’s okay. He didn’t say that you asked him to keep it a secret so I assume-”

“Thanks, Billy,” Trini gently cuts him off. 

“No Tommi?” Kim shakes her head, holds Trini tighter against her. “She’ll be fine, she loves you guys.” His eyes widen. “Not like, loves, loves. Well, not you Kimberly because she does love Trini and-”

Kim chuckles, “Billy, stop. We get it.” 

“Right. Happy birthday for yesterday, Trini.” She smiles at him in thanks. “Perhaps you two can stop causing your English professor heart palpitations now that you’ll be getting along.” 

Trini smirks, “I highly doubt that.” 

Zack throws his arms over the two of them and shouts, “Crazy Girl! Kimmy! It’s about time you two showed up.” He takes a long sniff and Kim rolls her eyes the same time Trini punches his shoulder. “Finally. That sexual tension was killing me.” 

“Make yourself useful and get us some drinks, homeboy.” 

“Only the best for my two favourite gals.” 

Kim offers Trini her hand and drags her to the dance floor, circles her body with her arms as Trini’s lock behind Kim’s neck and they sway until Amanda comes to stand next to them. “I’m kicking you out.” Trini cocks her head, brows furrowed . “Temporarily. Tommi is going to stay with me until she can be around Kim without want to kill her. Should only be a couple of weeks and then you can see my beautiful face in the morning again.” 

She leaves as suddenly as she came and Trini gapes after her, attempts to process what just happened before she turns her wide eyes on Kim, “looks like you’ve got yourself a new roommate for a bit, Hart.”

“God,” Kim groans, “we’re going to drive each other fucking insane.” 

Trini shrugs, “yep.” 

“Sounds perfect.”


End file.
